It helped Marvin Gaye get some sexual healing. Beyonce and the Beastie Boys have sung (and rapped) its praises. The most revered makers of hip hop, techno and industrial rock couldn’t live without it. And now the most popular MC of our day pays tribute to it in the name of his new album.

Some may see the title of Kanye West’s 808s and Heartbreak (out this week) and assume those digits are just another of those cryptic numbers that musicians like to throw around (see also: Prince’s 3121, Nena’s 99 Luftballoons, Rush’s 2112). But the reference couldn’t be more specific — West has taken this opportunity to declare his loyalty to the Roland TR-808.

Introduced in the early ’80s as one of the first programmable drum machines, the 808 was surpassed long ago by more high-tech musical tools. And yet musicians of all stripes and styles have deemed it indispensable for its stark percussion sound. With its metronomic precision, it may have none of the swing of a human drummer, but the 808 can still provide a futuristic kind of funkiness, especially when it’s in the right hands. This special timeline reveals how this once-lowly machine attained its iconic status.

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I do believe the TR-808 comes with FL studio in the DrumSynth channel (why many of the percs in that are called "808 ____'). So really, I've vuirtually produced with this thing a couple of times. The sounds you can get from this thing is pretty decent, though I use lots of other sample packs now like the 116 Drum Machine, the CM-120 Trance Samples and Digital Redux D&B 4 the Headz along with many other sample including the odd one that comes from FreeSound. A lot of the 808 sounds are great for getting some classic hip hop sounds though and is quite usable today.